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I always thought of Raspberry Pi as a not-for-profit and supported it on that basis. If the model was supposed to be like Mozilla where they have a not-for-profit and a corporation that is wholly owned by the not-for-profit, then it seems like selling out the corporation to for-profit investors runs contrary to the goals of the not-for-profit. Does anyone know why they are allowing the corporation to be sold off?
I found this interesting in the comments:
Hmm, Raspberry Pi Ltd. joins RISC-V group (Jan 2019). Raspberry Pi Ltd. releases Rpi5 with a unified Rpi1 I/O chip (Oct 2023) freeing them from being tied to a particular SoC family. ARM Ltd. invests in Raspberry Pi Ltd. (Nov 2023). Hmmm… Really seems like a “here’s some cash, stay ARM.”
Can you imagine the marketing impact of a RISC-V RPi board after all these years of it being ARM based? Sure, the number of boards effected isn’t huge, but it’s the marketing impact of losing a flagship product that needs to be considered.
Source: https://www.anandtech.com/comments/21120/arm-acquires-minority-stake-in-raspberry-pi/790281
Fukkin’ well figured.
But I’m not sure they are looking to jump anyway. Jeff Geerling reviewed a (supposed) drop-in replacement for the compute module, and it didn’t seem like it’s quite ready for the primetime.But, that is only one chip design, I’m sure Rpi could land it better.
Exciting to see more open technology getting some steam behind it.
It’s not being sold off. It’s an investment. Raspberry Pi has suffered from supply shortages that could be mitigated by entering into a partnership with Arm — and which would help further its charitable goals. Sales were down by more than a quarter in 2022 due to shortages.
And Arm isn’t the only minority shareholder. Sony, which manufactures its boards in Wales, also owns a stake.
These aren’t unusual commercial decisions to secure manufacturing and supply, and therefore maximise the dividend it pays to the foundation, while retaining majority control.
